Tears of a God
by reallyneedsahobby
Summary: It's easy to incur the wrath of a god. But it's even harder to make them cry. When Princess Celestia must deal with the aftermath of an assassination attempt against Twilight, she finds herself unable to decide between her desire for revenge and the laws of her country.


Disclaimer: This fic is an independent act that is not part of any means to gain wealth or damage the reputation of My Little Pony, Hasbro, or part of Lauren Faust's creation. This is intended to be enjoyed as a work of fiction.

The Princess of the Sun had a lank mane. For once, it behaved the laws of gravity and fell, no longer forever shifting in an invisible wind present only for her. The last time the sunset colored mane was still, Princess Celestia had banished Luna into the moon for 1,000 years. But then it hadn't been so bad. Then, Celestia knew without a doubt Luna would be back. She knew things would be alright.

But this? Not so much. With a bit of magic, Celestia could see the waiting room filled with worried ponies, some pacing back and forth, others sitting and crying. Crying. That was a luxury the Princess could not afford. Not now. Perhaps later, when she no longer wore her tiara.

Very softly and very carefully, Celestia nuzzled her most faithful student turned princess. Twilight's body was stiff and cold, though alive. Impossibly, impossibly alive. Celestia felt her lungs push air out and her sluggish pulse, but they were there.

_Failure_, the little voice in her head whispered. _How dare you sit by her bedside when you could not protect your own?_ Celestia wanted to forgive herself, wanted to turn back time. But what would that solve? Would Twilight still be lying here, on the brink of death, possibly drawing her last breath at that moment? Or would she be perfectly fine and forgetting how to properly address nobles? Would she be missing her friends? Would her friends be worried half to death?

Things the Princess could not answer, and did not want answers to. She had that power though. Something she rarely ever used, for the consequences would be devastating. But to ensure Twilight's survival? Could she be selfish enough for that? Had she earned it? Did she even have that right? No, it was not earned. But of all the things Celestia deserved, was this not one of them?

A knock sounded in the antechamber, a room separating the Twilight from the waiting area in the royal infirmary. "Your Majesty, it is Brigadier General Shield, may I enter?"

Celestia did not respond but with a slight glow of her horn, the door opened. Glory Shield's mane was silver, a far cry from the green the pony had when he enlisted. His coat was a deep blue and, hidden by armor, a cutie mark displaying a shield underlying a crown proudly sat. For over twenty years, the Brigadier General had been in charge of the royal guard, though he had given that distinction to Twilight's brother, Shining Armor. He played a major part in the army and was still head of Celestia's personal guard.

Only years of practice and being on a relatively personal level with the Princess kept Glory Shield from blatantly staring at his Princess, who looked so defeated. Her mane was lank and she sat on her flank, her back hunched over and openly showing affection for Twilight. Though Celestia always treated Twilight more like a daughter than a student, she never openly displayed any real favoritism or anything hinting at a relationship that was anything other than fond. Now, devastated was a mild word to use; she looked like a parent facing the realization that they might have to bury their child. "Highness, we've captured the traitors. We await your command."

For a long moment, Celestia said nothing. This was almost unprecedented. Luna was scary on her own to deter such events, though it did not stop Celestia from giving her a discreet security detail during her first days as Princess Luna once again. When Twilight first moved to Ponyville, Celestia had provided the same protection for her naïve protégée, though Twilight never knew and thanks to their specialized training in covert ops, the new Princess still did not know the ponies she called Time Turner and Ditzy Doo were her incredibly tactful security.

Assassination attempts were rare. So rare, no living pony could remember the last time it had happened. When Celestia and Luna became the two pony sisters yet refused to name one Queen, not everypony was fond at the sudden change in tradition. Why should they change the rules yet remain in power when they expressed no desire to be an absolute ruler? Oh yes, she and Luna lead the rebellion against Discord but that did not mean they could rule with their new ideas and the backwards society they tried to raise. Some tried drastic measures to ensure one or both of the sisters could no longer wear the crown. Permanently.

When they eventually accepted the pseudo immortals as their rulers, the assassinations stopped and as such many believed they simply did not happen in Equestria. And for one to almost (though "almost" was a tentative word) succeed was a major blow. There was much Celestia wished she could do. Luna suggested making them an example, as in the old days. But it was a different world back then and an even stranger one now. This… would require a certain kind of tact and strength. "Throw them in the dungeon for now. Let them sit there until two hours before dawn. Keep them heavily guarded. I will personally deal with them."

If Glory Shield was surprised, he didn't show it, only saluted, "Majesty," and left.

"Doctor Heart Right," Celestia summoned. The pony emerged, bowing briefly, the light reflecting off his pale yellow coat and red hair.

"Yes Princess Celestia."

"If possible, you may allow Twilight's family and friends to see her. I must check up on the investigation. Notify me immediately of any changes."

The pony nodded, "Yes Princess Celestia."

The pony princess left to the antechamber and exited out of a window, taking to the sky and headed towards her sister's apartments. It was almost time for the sun to set and the moon to rise, Luna would be around.

Celestia landed on the tower balcony, only to find the doors open and her sister pouring over old texts, flicking through a large stack impossibly fast. An ancient tome flew past Celestia and she got a good look at the book. Ah, one of the ones locked away after Nightmare Moon's rise: the kind with darker magic.

"What are you looking for?"

To her credit, Luna didn't startle or even look up. "There must be some magic in here that healers today do not know about. While we do not use the old remedies any longer, like those horrid leeches, there are some spells that can save Twilight Sparkle's life."

"Sister. That magic is forbidden. Used incorrectly, they could do more harm than good."

"I am well aware Tia. But I feel I must do something. I do not always show it, but I could not bear it if Twilight Sparkle did not last the night."

Despite the matter of fact tone Luna took with everything she did, Celestia knew she was hurting as well. After Luna's return, she and Twilight spent much time together watching the stars. Twilight's ever knowledge-thirsty mind proved to be the perfect friend for Luna.

"The guard found and captured the traitors. They're in the dungeon now. I… sister, there is so much I want to do to them. A far cry from my usual benevolence. But…"

"I know. We are royalty. We jealously guard what is ours because we have so little. And Twilight Sparkle is family." It was a fact. Luna said it as a fact.

"After you were gone, I was so alone for years. I had other students but none as brilliant as Twilight. They all helped fill the gap left in my heart. But Twilight, she filled it more than any of the others. I do not know what will happen if she—"

Admitting the pain to Luna, Celestia felt raw, exposed. Still she took a breath and informed Luna, "Two hours before dawn, I will personally deal with the prisoners. You are welcome to be there." The Princess of the Night looked grim but nodded. She went back to her books, trying to find something to help the fallen princess. Celestia walked out of Luna's apartments.

The sun fell and the moon rose. Celestia wondered the castle, too restless to get the sleep she would sorely need, her mind turning over and over what to do. Two hours before she was due to meet the prisoners, she found herself outside of Twilight's infirmary. She recognized the four ponies standing guard outside and the other four scattered throughout the interior rooms. These were the best of the Royal Guard all who have sworn loyalty to Celestia. But even more so, they were friends of Shining Armor, all of whom watched little Twily mature into a Princess. Nothing was going to get past them.

Celestia entered and saw Twilight's friends and family were scattered around in the antechamber, seated on plush couches and chairs, most asleep from exhaustion. All except two.

Inside, watching over their daughter, Twilight Velvet and Night Light clung to each other, desperately waiting for a change in their second child. The two ponies looked up at Celestia when they heard her and barely nodded, turning their attention back to their little girl. Twilight Velvet leaned forward and nuzzled her daughter, much like Celestia had done earlier.

It was inappropriate, Celestia knew, but she had to tell them, "We've caught the ponies responsible. They are waiting for their punishment."

Night Light inquired, "What will you do to them?"

"The death penalty was outlawed several decades ago but then nopony has attempted an assassination of a royal for even longer. The laws governing royalty are different and were made binding and absolute during the years the three pony tribes learned to live together as one. Though this situation is taking place in a different world. Not many ponies know those laws so they are not necessarily followed. But as per custom, as Twilight's parents, you do have a say in what you wish to happen."

The enormity of the offer dwarfed the silence in the room. They could have them killed. Twilight Velvet and Night Light could have the ponies that hurt their only daughter killed.

"Do you know why this happened?" Night Light's voice was desperate, trying to make sense of why his daughter was fighting for her life.

"They said something," Twilight Velvet spoke, her voice flat and toneless, "before they—" she shut her eyes, watching in her mind the blood of her little girl splattering all over the floor, Twilight's pupils dilated with shock, encompassing the beautiful amethyst the princess was blessed with.

"Yes," Celestia responded, "_Vivat Regina_. It's an old pony language. It means 'Long Live the Queen.'"

"Queen? But you and Luna and Twilight are princesses!"

"Luna and I will never hold the title of Queen, though perhaps, one day Twilight or Cadence will. Though Luna and I remain the two pony sisters, there were once kings and queens of Equestria. Some good, some bad, but all were absolute rulers. Our Egalitarian society was not even a glimmer in their thoughts. It was a world where the lines of succession remained soaked in the notion of bloodlines and heirs. All that changed after Discord came.

"Luna and I are sisters who are the last scions of an ancient tradition. But we are still sisters and both suited for the throne. But we love each other too much now and too much then to inspire hatred by having one of us rule over the other. So we made the choice to exemplify the equality we so desperately wanted for our subjects. When our parents, the last King and Queen of Equestria passed and when Luna and I made the decision to remain as we were, Discord saw it as a chance to take over by spreading disharmony and evil.

"Royalty was almost always a Unicorn idea when there were the three tribes. They used their collective powers to raise the sun and moon and thus were seen as the most powerful, but that magic came at a heavy cost. Many lives were lost in bringing the Sun to warm the earth and the Moon to allow it rest.

"When one single pony showed they had the power to do it alone, they hailed her as a Goddess and Queen: a living deity to guide them into the future. That was eons ago and the lore it spawned is long gone, known to only a few. Those ponies may be following the original line of direct succession, which has long since died out. Luna and I are kin to that original line. The advent of Princess Twilight is, for all intents and purposes, like having a bastard child inherit the throne. Cadence is my niece, and therefore a legitimate heir to the throne of Equestria, if she did not already have the Crystal Empire as her own. Twilight frightens them. She has a claim to the throne, as we saw when Luna and I contended with the black vines spawned from the sick Tree of Harmony.

"Those ponies believe in the purity of the original Goddess Queen's line. Originally, we kept watch on them but they faded out years ago, before Twilight was even my student. They barely made a sound decades before that. It did not seem… effective to watch for shadows in a dark room. For my negligence, I am truly sorry."

More silence. Celestia did not know whether to consider it a damnation of her or two ponies in shock over what she had said. To think Twilight's life was in danger because she loved the magic that flowed through her body gave way to a twisted and cruel irony. Celestia moved to the other side of Twilight's bed and when Twilight Velvet and Night Light said nothing. She sat down, watching her most faithful student breathe, in and out.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

In and out.

"She wouldn't want that." Twilight Velvet's soft voice broke the silence. An hour had passed, tied up in watching Twilight Sparkle.

"I'm sorry?"

Twilight Velvet met the eyes of the Princess of the Sun and in that moment, the birth mother had more power than a living god.

"Twilight would not want them to die in her name. Whatever happens, they can't be executed. It's not what she would want. And as much as I want you to make a gallows or sharpen an ax, I know my daughter. They don't deserve benevolence but Twilight is more important than that. We do what she would want."

Celestia nodded her head. Twilight Velvet had spoken and now Celestia would have to make a choice on what to do with them.

She would have to do it soon. The time had finally come.

Celestia made to exit the sanctum where Twilight rested and was surprised to see Luna enter. She was even more shocked when Luna bowed deeply to Twilight Velvet and Night Light. Her horn glowed dark blue and she spoke, her voice like a soothing blanket in the latest hours of the night, in the calm and the quiet hours before dawn.

"She is too far to dream," the Night Princess informed them, "but not far enough to not recognize a comforting presence. She is unaware yet knows she is safe. If she can dream, they will be good. Take comfort that she is not frightened."

With that, Luna bowed again and exited, though she caught the slight looks of relief sent her way. Luna led the way out, her older sister trailing behind.

They took the back ways through the castle, neither talking but their minds turning over and over the outcomes the night could bring.

Finally, they stopped outside the dungeons. With a nod, the sentries opened the door to the dungeon proper, a long hallway filled with empty cells and lonely stone. They needed to travel through three more hallways before stopping at the very end of the deepest cells in the castle. There were no less than ten highly proficient guards, all the best the protectors of the Royal Family the guard had to offer. They all saluted and Brigadier General Glory Shield approached, "Your Highnesses."

"Open the door Shield." There was underlying fury in the voice of the Sun Princess.

Stone grated against stone, steel creaked from lack of use and proper maintenance but the doors were strong, their roots deeply entwined in history.

The door opened up to a large room where half was behind magically reinforced steel bars. Behind the bars, three ponies lay, their hooves shackled to the ground, the magenta Pegasus pony had a band around his wings and the grey unicorn's horn was encased in a metal alloy specifically designed to block magic. Much more archaic than the magic nullifying spells, but necessary. They were joined by an orange Earth pony.

At the sight of the Princesses, the ponies perked up and the Pegasus spoke, "Finally you're here! We've been trying to tell them that you'd release us but they wouldn't listen. That's hardly the kind of thanks I expected!"

Luna and Celestia were stunned into silence.

"This contraption on my horn is barbaric! I would have expected it from the False One, but you two? I don't understand why you're doing this to us!"

The Earth pony said nothing, his eyes carefully watching the sisters.

Celestia spoke, raising her voice over them, "Gamma Chaser, Dawn Treader, and Hearth Till, you are charged with the attempted murder of Princess Twilight Sparkle. You will not be given a trail and a jury of your peers, nor will you be given legal representation. This charge against you would have had you executed and your heads sent back to your leader as a warning. However," she spoke louder over the stunned silence of the would-be assassins, "those laws are barbaric and will not be followed. Hence forth, you shall be banished from the whole of Equestria. You will be escorted off the continent and placed on a boat with provisions lasting only three weeks. Your fate remains up to you after that. You are no subjects of mine."

Dawn Treader, the unicorn, pleaded, "But your Majesty! We only look out for the best interest of the throne! We could not have that abomination as Queen!"

The response to that came not from Celestia, but Luna. She used the old Canterlot royal voice, the walls shaking and the very foundation of the world trembling from her rage, "TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS WORTH MORE THAN THOU, WHOM ARE NOTHING MORE THAN SPECKS, COULD EVER IMAGINE. SHE IS OUR FAMILY! WE CLAIM HER AS OUR OWN! BY OUR POWERS THOU WILL NEVER HAVE REST IN THE NIGHT BUT ONLY TERROR. YOU BRING NOTHING BUT DISHONOR! WE ARE ASHAMED TO CALL THOU PONIES OF EQUESTRIA!"

Luna said her peace yet her eyes remained bathed in fury, her mane violently undulating as if in a storm.

Gamma Chaser pleaded, "But your Majesties, we only look after the good of the throne!"

"The throne," Celestia stated flatly, "was never any one pony's job to look after. It is ours, which is the responsibility of the royal family's to care for." She turned dark and unforgiving, "And I will ensure no pony will ever think they have the gall to do what is 'right' by the throne. You have your punishment, our judgment has passed.

"Should any of you set hoof in Equestria again or your cohorts ever attempt such an act again, your lives will be forfeit."

Much later, in the early hours of dawn, Celestia was seen keeping vigil over her most faithful student. Twilight's parents had nodded off some moments ago, the hard earned stamina Celestia possessed lending to her ability to stay awake. She closed her eyes briefly, softly expanding her magic around the room, its pulsations focusing on Twilight.

Celestia was not skilled in the healing arts but she knew enough to check up on the bone and blood and muscle and magic and skin. There was little change but it was morning. Twilight Sparkle had lasted the night.

Impossibly, Celestia felt a tug on her magic, weak, nothing more than a gentle brush, but there! The magic whispered _Princess_.

Twilight's body relaxed minutely. The danger not gone, but now Celestia knew one fact. Princess Twilight Sparkle, the most faithful student of Princess Celestia, heir to the throne of Equestria, and the Element of Magic, would live.

Twilight Sparkle, would live.

And finally, finally; Celestia wept.


End file.
